JOHN PETRUCCI About His Favorite Guitar Pedal

In an interview with Australian Musician, Dream Theater guitarist John Petrucci was asked about the first pedal he ever owned, to which he replied:

“I’m not sure if I remember the first one. It was probably a Boss effect of some sort. When I was younger my rig was very simple. It was a little amp and an MXR distortion plus. I remember even taking that to Berklee at the time.

“But back then I didn’t really own a lot of gear and pedals. But I loved the Boss pedals.“

When asked if there’s any particular pedal that he enjoys using more than others, he said:

“I would be remiss if I didn’t say my own TC Electronic Dreamscape. The sound of that pedal and what it does, being a modulation pedal, are the sounds that I sort of grew up with.When I would hear Rush and Alex Lifeson would have that sound, or Randy Rhoads, guys like that.

“So being able to develop a modulation based pedal based off of a classic TC pedal SCF, and then adding all these options and features, and modernizing it, made it the ultimate. But as far as a pedal that you step on, then it’s my Dunlop wah.

“Again, I tried to explain this, because it seems like I’m ‘Mine this, and mine that,’ but there’s only a handful. There are only about five different things, and they’re all companies that I have played that gear since I was pretty much a kid, and kind of always used that thing. And then developed relationships with the people in the companies as a professional, and eventually got to a point where ‘Hey we should do something together.’

“And then I got this unique opportunity with Dunlop to do a Crybaby that had my name on it. In all those cases I get to the point where we’re so on the same page, and I have so much experience with that gear. I know exactly what I’m looking for. And we always end up with something that’s really great and we’re really proud of. And even better than that, seeing other people enjoy, and say ‘Man, I got that pedal, it’s great! It inspired me! I love the way it sounds!’ That’s what’s all about.“